Return from Rendor*~
by Aryana
Summary: 12 years after the events of 'The Tamuli', Talen is a full Pandion knight and has just returned from 5 years in Rendor...what's he going to say to Danae? CHAPTER 3 UP AT LAST!
1. ~*Coming home*~

  DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the character features in this story. The characters were invented by and belong to David Eddings (Possibly Leigh Eddings aswell, but I don't know!)

Talen rode slowly through the gates of Cimmura, his black Pandion armour clanking loudly and shining in the weak autumn sunlight. It didn't seem two days since he had left the dirty and overcrowded streets of his hometown, yet in all reality he had been in Rendor for five years, attempting to keep the peace there.

      "Yeah, like that's ever gonna actually happen," he thought sullenly "Peace in Rendor? Pffffff!"

  It had certainly been a difficult task and Talen was glad to be home, though he did not know how long he would be back for.

  As he rode through the overly familiar streets, Talen saw faces that he vaguely recognised, people from long ago. He thought back over his past and everything that had happened since their return from the Tamul continent. He had been thirteen then and had only just started his Pandion training. Twelve years ago. Was it really twelve years?

  Talen sighed. The world had been reasonably peaceful since the events with the Cyrgai and their God. Bhelliom had passed on, no longer confined in its Sapphire case, and the troll God's had been freed. The emperor, Sarabian, and several of his wives still visited frequently, as did Kring and Mirtai. He had missed them all, and indeed while he's been away he had missed the birth of Kalten and Alean's second child.

  It was definitely good to be back Talen decided.

  He had certainly grown up a lot since their return from Tamuli. Indeed anybody at the age of 25 would be expected to be grown up, though Talen quite frequently still felt like a child at heart. Although theoretically he was no longer a thief, he still visited Platime and Stragen, the 'leaders' of all the criminals in their respective cities, and he still pick-pocketed, as he had done when he was a young boy.

      "Just to keep in practice!" he told Sparhawk.

  A career as a thief would always be something to fall back on if his life as a Pandion knight didn't work out after all!

  His horse plodded on toward the entrance on the Pandion Chapter house. Having gone through the ritual at the gate, he dismounted his horse, leaving her with one of the novices in the courtyard, before he entered the building. He was greeted by many familiar faces, though the people he really wanted to see were his brothers and one of his oldest friends; Berit.

  Talen walked into a small room, shutting the door quietly behind him, before he dumped his large pack onto his bed and began to strip himself of his armour. It really did smell foul he decided. He changed quickly into a loose fitting tunic and a short pair of trousers, and just as he was beginning to re-tie his shoes there was a knock at the door.

      "Come in." Talen said as the door swung noisily open.

      "Welcome back!"

  Talen looked up as Berit, and his own brother Khalad entered the room.

      "How were things in Rendor?" Khalad asked him.

      "The normal," he replied as he picked his armour up from his bed and placed it inside the large closet that stood in the room, "hot, lots of fighting."

      "Sounds about right for Rendor," Berit smiled as he looked at his old friend warmly.

  Talen laughed. "I don't think it will ever change!

  Berit smiled too. "Let's hope for our sakes that it doesn't, or we shall all be out of jobs!"

  Khalad looked up at both of them, suddenly remembering something.

      "Word got round that you were coming back …and…well…you're wanted at the palace as soon as possible."

 Talen smiled and laughed lightly. "Sparhawk and Ehlana don't hang around do they? They obviously can't wait to see me!"

      "Actually, it was the princess Danae who requested your presence."

  Talens face fell. The princess.

  For her whole life she had had her eyes on Talen, planning one day to marry him, and although to begin with the idea had scared him, being only six when she had made the announcement to him, quite calmly in front of the whole room. He'd never gotten used to the idea. He was a free spirit and didn't like being under anybody's control. Could he cope with being Danae's husband and the responsibility that would place on him? 

  He'd done a lot of thinking while he'd been away in Rendor and realised that although he cared greatly for Danae, he couldn't marry her, quite simply because he didn't love her. He loved someone else.

      "Are you alright?" Berit asked him, looking concerned

      "Fine," Talen murmured.

  He stood up, slowly drawing his cloak around him, preparing to go up to the palace.

  He could see this was going to be difficult.


	2. ~*Danae*~

Danae sat alone in her room, in one of the large chairs that surrounded the large wooden table in the centre of the room. Mmmr lay peacefully asleep in her lap, purring contentedly as Danae absently stroked her soft fur.  
  
Her parent, Sparhawk and Ehlana were away, currently visiting some of their many old friends. Danae had of course requested to go with them, as she longed to see the fire-domed city of Matherion again, and wander through the streets, watching the buildings glisten as the sun sparkled off the many mother of pearl tiles that encrusted the buildings of the city. However her parents had refused to take her with them. A faint smile came to Danae's lips, as she remembered the scene that had occurred just days before.  
  
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"We need someone to stay here and look after things while we're away," Sparhawk said firmly, "Lenda can't manage on his own here now, he's an old man!"  
  
"Your father's right," Ehlana continued, "And this is the perfect opportunity for you to get some practice in. You need to know what you're doing before you take over the throne young lady!"  
  
Danae rolled her eyes, how typical of her mother, always the practical one!  
  
Secretly, Sparhawk had been wondering why his daughter had asked to come with them, when she knew they would refuse. Why go through all of that when she could have just 'magic' herself there. She was the goddess Aphrael after all!  
  
"It's not really magic you know."  
  
Sparhawk jumped as he heard his daughter speaking to him telepathically. He looked at her menacingly as she moved to sit down and her mother quietly left the room.  
  
"Everybody could probably do it if they thought about it hard enough!" she continued, avoiding her fathers' angry gaze, "But I guess that's why the God's are God's and you're not. Because we were given the knowledge to use our…'magic'.  
  
"I do wish you wouldn't do that!" Sparhawk 'thought' back angrily to his daughter.  
  
"Do what?" She asked out loud, innocently, "I didn't do anything!"  
  
Sparhawk gave her one of 'those' looks and all traces of a smile vanished from her face. She knew when not to push it any further.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "I won't do it again! But you do realise that I'll be going to Matherion anyway don't you?"  
  
"I gathered as much."  
  
"Good, then you won't be surprised if you see Flute there will you!"  
  
"It'll be good to see flute again," Sparhawk said absent-mindedly, momentarily forgetting that Danae, Flute and Aphrael were all the same person.  
  
"Just let me know when you get there, alright?"  
  
"Alright!" Sparhawk agreed grudgingly "As long as we don't end up going on any long adventures again, I'm getting too old for that now!"  
  
Danae laughed at her father. He obviously trusted her sooo much!  
  
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A loud knock on the door brought Danae back down to earth. The loud noise had startled her from her daydreams, and as she jumped up Mmmr fell grumpily from her lap. She hissed loudly at Danae before running to hide herself under the table.  
  
"Oh don't be so miserable!" Danae told her as she moved to sit in one of the chairs by the fire, before she called "Come in!"  
  
The door swung gently open and Talen, still wrapped in his cloak entered the room and stood in front of Aphrael by the large glowing fire.  
  
"You requested to see me your highness," he said extremely formally, then bowed.  
  
"Drop the formalities Talen," she told him sternly "this is me you're talking to, and we're friends! Or have you changed so much in five years that you've forgotten how to have a 'friendly' conversation?"  
  
Talen laughed. "I'm afraid I expected you to have turned out exactly as your mother did. You know she's one for all that formal business!"  
  
"Yes," Danae smiled, "She is a bit insistent on it isn't she! I guess it's just the actress emerging in her!"  
  
"Don't let her hear you saying that!" Talen laughed nervously "She's have your head, daughter or no!"  
  
Danae giggled and allowed herself to look closely at Talen for the first time since he had entered the room. He had certainly grown more handsome during his time away, and although she had seen him several times since he had left, appearing to him as Aphrael, she was still shocked at the change in him. He had become far more muscular, his body being more toned and far more manly. His hair had grown had grown and he now had a stubbly beard, obviously having not shaved for a while. His eyes were still the clear blue ones that she had known as a child, but now they held as certain wisdom behind them. Talen had grown up and he was now a man. He was ready Danae decided, but how to ask him?  
  
"What was Rendor like?" she asked questioningly  
  
"Hot, dry and dusty," he replied, "Has it ever been any different?"  
  
"See anyone you knew?" she asked  
  
"I saw Aphrael a couple of times." He said smilingly warmly at the memory.  
  
"That's nice," Danae said, smirking slightly, "Do anything interesting out there?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Ok. Will you marry me then?"  
  
"I…what?" Talen stopped mid sentence as he suddenly realised what Danae had just asked him. He had been worried about this, but had hoped that she had grown out of her childhood crush while he'd been away. Now it was apparent that she hadn't. His absence had just made her love stronger.  
  
"Now, I know how Sparhawk felt when he realised he was going to be marrying Ehlana!" Talen thought to himself, "Like an animal caught in a trap."  
  
He looked at Danae, staring in to her green eyes and answered her question honestly. However much he cared for Danae and couldn't bear to hurt her, he had to tell her the truth.  
  
"I can't."  
  
"What?" Danae asked him, surprised by his answer.  
  
"I can't marry you Danae, because it wouldn't be fair on you, because I wouldn't be yours." He took a deep breath "I'm in love with someone else."  
  
He reached out to touch Danae's arm to comfort her, but she took a step backwards from him, the hurt apparent as her eyes began to fill with tears.  
  
"Who?" she asked quietly, not able to look him in the eyes.  
  
"I can't tell you," Talen said sadly, "You'd only laugh at me."  
  
"Talen!" she said loudly "At least have the decency to let me know who this girl is, so I can see who the woman you love is."  
  
"You really want to know?" Talen asked, still unprepared to tell anybody about whom it was he loved, let alone the girl who had just asked for his hand in marriage.  
  
Danae sniffed and nodded.  
  
"Aphrael." Talen said quietly to her.  
  
Danae's eyes widened in disbelief, but this sudden revelation only saddened her even more. Although she now knew that Talen did love her, she now had to tell him that she had been lying to him for the last seventeen years. Without breaking his heart. 


	3. ~*Sephrenia*~

A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed this for me so far. Sorry it's taken me so long to actually get this written and posted, but I had exams and stuff, then really couldn't get back into it. Hopefully now I've got back into the sing of thing I'll keep this updated more regularly ;)

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The door clicked shut quietly as Talen left Danae alone in her room once more, thinking over the new problem she had caused for herself. In a way she thought it ridiculous that one mortal man, who wasn't even Styric, was causing her so much hassle. As the Goddess Aphrael she had lived many lives as many different people and had never met anyone like Talen. Something about the young thief intrigued her, and she loved him for it.

"How am I going to do this?" she asked herself desperately. "Why did I let myself get so close to him as Aphrael? I should've known something like this was going to happen, I should have been more careful."

The wind blew softly through the open window of the room, causing the curtains to billow out, almost dancing across the room. Danae quietly considered all of her options as she sat with Mmrr once again in her lap, watching their hypnotic movement.

"I have to tell him." She decided "That's the only way he'll ever understand and see how much I love him…but how to let him know without destroying him?"

Danae sat there pondering for many hours, and by the time she'd come to any conclusion about her current predicament, it was dark outside and the room was cold, the fire long since having gone out.

"I need to see Sephrenia." She said out loud, standing suddenly, a very angry Mmrr falling to the floor, "she'll know what to do."

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Sephrenia sat on the terrace of her house, watching in vain as Vanion tried to perform one of the more intricate Styric spells.

"I'd give up with that one if I were you dear."

"No!" he replied stubbornly "I will get it right."

"Ok, whatever you say." She said resignedly, knowing that trying to convince him otherwise was hopeless. 

Sephrenia stifled a yawn and looked around the untidy garden, before silently whispering a spell, releasing it and watching as the garden restored itself to perfect health, the trees and flowers in full bloom, the weeds all gone, the grass newly cut. She smiled; rather satisfied with the way that particular spell had worked, and made a mental note to herself to teach that to Vanion later.

"I wish you wouldn't do spells that are so completely useless sometimes you know Sephrenia"

The woman jumped as the voice of a young girl came from behind her, and she spun around in her seat to face a young girl sitting cross legged on the back of one of the goats that roamed freely through the gardens of Sephrenia and Vanions' home. Sephrenia smiled at the comment from the child Goddess and looked around the garden at the handiwork her most recent spell had done.

"But it's so much effort to do it all by hand." She pleaded "and Vanion makes a lot of mess with all of the spells that turn out wrong. It rips the garden to pieces again before I even begin to get it back in order."

Aphrael, currently in the form of Flute, Sephrenia's younger sister, watched Vanion as he began weaving another spell, smirking as she heard several of the key Styric words pronounced wrongly, then followed a bright orange ball of light as it flew across the gardens, hitting an oak tree with a resounding crash and causing it to burst into flames.

"See what I mean!"

Flute smirked and Sephrenia turned round in her chair once more to face the child Goddess, smiling warmly at her.

"What brings you here then Aphrael? It's been a few months now since we've had a visit from you."

Flute shrugged.

"Do I need a reason to visit two of my favourite worshippers? Besides Sparhawk and mother have gone away, and life at the palace on your own is pretty boring."

Sephrenia nodded knowingly.

"I should expect it is pretty boring…but there's something else troubling you, you don't normally make a trip all the way out here just to see us. I know you too well to accept a lie like that from you now."

"Talen came back."

Sephrenia looked at Aphrael unblinkingly.

"You still plan to marry him then I suppose, despite my warnings against it?"

Flute nodded silently, and watched the look of disapproval on one of her most loyal followers faces. No, Sephrenia wasn't just another worshipper, she was a friend.

"You're a Goddess Aphrael, even if you do appear to him as Danae…you need to be careful about what you do."

"I know all that Sephrenia, don't you think I've thought all of that through a million times before? I know that if I take a mortal as a lover then either one of two things will happen. He'll either die, or he'll become immortal also and live by my side for all of time. I don't know which, but I can't bear the thought of losing him. I already know all the risks behind this. I'm well aware that it could kill me too."

Sephrenia nodded again, her lips pursed and her eyes unemotional and slightly cold.

"So…why does there seem to be a problem?" she asked after several moments of silence.

"Talen doesn't love Danae," Flute said softly, climbing down from the back of the goat and sitting down in the freshly cut grass, her feet already stained green, "he loves Aphrael, which is where I have the problem. He does love me, but he doesn't…how am I going to tell him that they're both me?"

Sephrenia smiled almost sadly and looked closely at Flute, finally realising just how much she cared for Talen, and knowing now that there was no way that she'd ever talk the young Goddess out of the decision she'd made.

"It's not going to be easy on either of you, but you have to tell him…take him back to yours, along with Sparhawk and Khalad and Berit."

"Why Khalad and Berit?" Flute asked naively. "They don't need to know really…"

Sephrenia shook her head and rolled her eyes, almost laughing to herself.

"I thought you were meant to be the all knowledgeable one here? I thought you would have noticed that for a long time they've both suspected who you really are."

The young girl shifted uneasily on the grass.

"I did notice." She lied, standing up as she spoke "Now if you don't mind, I've got a lot of work to do"

And she vanished from the small garden, leaving Sephrenia sitting there watching as Vanion mutilated several more trees. He walked over to her slowly, kissing her lightly on the cheek before sitting beside her.

"What did Aphrael want?" he asked curiously

Sephrenia sighed.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough Vanion dear. I think all of us will be discovering a few new things about our little Goddess over the next few days."

Vanion stared at Sephrenia for a moment, then stood up, taking her hand and leading her back towards the house.

"You know, sometimes I really don't understand you." He stated matter-of-factly "but I still love you all the same."

Sephrenia smiled and punched Vanion playfully in the arm, while whispering another small smell to put out the miniature bush fire that had begun to spread through their garden.

"I'm glad of that." She whispered happily as she pulled him into an embrace. "So very glad."


End file.
